


At Odds with Time

by IChallengeMyFate (Ealdremen)



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 05:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3345986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ealdremen/pseuds/IChallengeMyFate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tiki muses on life and loss when a certain person catches her attention at the Mila Tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Odds with Time

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on ichallengemyfate.tumblr.com.

When Tiki was awoken by the voice of the Chon’sin woman, it had been a shock – not because mankind called for her aid once more, but because of the blue-haired person among them. Her vision blurry with sleep, Tiki stared at the person clad in blue, her eyes growing wide with disbelief. That red and blue cloak, that azure tunic, and…

Tiki’s heart started to race. She could sense it before her eyes even settled on it. It was the blade forged by Naga’s fang: the Falchion.

It could only be one person. The name escaped her lips before she even knew what she was saying.

“Marth?”

Memories flooded back to her, and tears almost sprang to her eyes, but then there was a response. That voice… It was a woman’s voice… The voice of a woman she didn’t know.

The reality of the situation sunk in, and it seemed to clear away the grogginess from her eyes. For the first time, she noticed the long hair, the smaller eyes, and the paler skin of the person before her. Her face was more angular, and there was something more subdued and withdrawn in how she held herself. Tiki stopped herself from approaching the bearer of the Falchion, and the woman continued, sounding a bit confused at Tiki’s reaction to her.

“My name is Lucina, milady.”

Even though it had been impossible for Marth to have returned, Tiki felt that pang of loss again. It was just as when she had first awoken from her long sleep and realized that Marth and the others were long dead, replaced by unfamiliar faces whose owners called themselves the descendants of the “Hero-King”.

Descendants. The very word wounded her. Marth’s life had gone on without her, and so it also had been with the people after him. They moved along with their lives; they were born, raised, and eventually dead before Tiki could even realize that time had passed without her once again.

Tiki’s eyes flicked to the source of Naga’s power she had sensed – the sword at the woman’s hip. Despite it undeniably being the real Falchion, it didn’t look like Marth’s sword at all. The hilt was different, and there was just something _off_ about it. It was worn with age, marked and altered by the countless people who had wielded it after Marth.

Even the Falchion, forged from the same power that she herself bore as a daughter of Naga, was a stranger to her now.

She swallowed her disappointment; she couldn’t burden strangers with her weakness. They had come to _her_ for help. They needed to perform the Awakening just as the first exalt had, and of course Tiki could not turn away their plea for help, not after all Marth had done to protect this world. She directed them to the other gemstones of the Fire Emblem and imparted Azure to their safekeeping, almost glad to be rid of that horrible reminder of the years she had lost.

After thanking her, they left – just as these short-lived humans always did. The group headed down the winding stairs that would return them to the base of the Mila Tree. The woman named Lucina glanced back at Tiki with an expression she couldn’t quite place. It was sad, yet it was something more than sympathy. It was something closer to understanding. Yes, there was something in Lucina’s eyes that made Tiki realize this woman likely had more in common with Tiki than with Marth.

Their gazes met for a moment, and Tiki nodded with certainty when Lucina turned away and jogged to catch up with the others. Lucina had lost something dear to her, as well, and she was fixated on that past, that overwhelming sense of loss.

“Do not live like me,” Tiki murmured to herself, sinking back against the altar. Slowly, she closed her eyes, eager to return to her dreams of the past. “Your life is too short to be wasted on a time you can never reclaim.”


End file.
